Car door



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Oct. 11, 1932. J. P. MCWILLIAMS ET AL- CAR DOOR Filed May 23, 1928 rank 1227021 3 Oct. 11, 1932. J. P. MCWILLIAMS ET AL 1,881,827

CAR DOOR Filed May 23, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 0 JJMPHC Frank Zjz'ichfield Patented Get. 11, 1932 JOHN P. MCWILLIAMS AND FRANK DIT'CHFIELD, OE CLEVELAND, OHIO, ASSIGNCRS TO THE YOUNGSTQWN STEEL DOOR COMPANY, OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORA- TIDN OF OHIO Application filed May 23,

This invention relates to improvements in car' doors. As well known, there is a general tendency on the part of railroads to adopt all steel cars of the house type, and the side doors of which are made principally of sheet steel. Such doors necessarily must be as light as possible consistent with proper strength in order to keep the cost of material low and to minimize the dead weight or unproductive load of the car. To meet these conditions, the general practicehas been to incorporate corrugations or indentations in the metal I sheets comprising the door, as shown for example in patents to Allan S. Barrows, No. 1,315,587, of September 9, 1919; and 1,560,526, of November 10, 1925, in which horizontal corrugations merging at their ends with vertical edge corrugations are disclosed,

the arrangement of corrugations being so designed as to provide the necessary strength against forces applied both in the plane of the door and in directions transverse to the plane of the door.

'VVhen a car side door is in closed position, the front edge is confined throughout its length by a combined stop and weather sealing member, generally a commercially rolled shape. Likewise, the rear edge of the door is substantially always provided with a flanged member extending the length thereof, which flanged member interlocks with a cooperating sealing member affixed to the Car side, when the door is in closed position. As will be obvious, the front and rear vertical edges of the door are thus secured, in effect, to the car side wall and hence the bending momenton the door resulting from forces applied transverseto the plane of thedoor gradually increases as the point of application becomes farther removed from the vertical edges and reaches its maximum when applied in the vertical center linev of the door. I is primarily to resist such trans verse forces that the horizontally extending corrugations or equivalent indentations such as shown in said Barrows patents are used in sheet metal side doors. Frequently, such transierse forces arise from shifting of the load when the car is in transit. The pri- CAR noon 1928. Serial No. 279,877.

mary function of the vertical edge corrugations in such doors is to resist forces-or blows of such corrugations is increased, so is the amount of material required'for the blanks. Further, increasing the number of horizontally disposed corrugations merging with the front and rear vertical edge corrugations, increases the tensilestresses set up in the metal during the drawing operations and frequently to such an extent, when a large number of such horizontal corrugations are employed, as to cause fracture of the sheet and consequent loss thereof.

' One object of our invention is to provide an improved sheet metal car door of the general type hereinabove indicated which will require less material for a'given strength than former doors of like character.

A specific object of our invention is to provide a door of the sheet metal type having horizontal corrugations merging with vertical edge corrugations wherein a lesser-.number of the horizontally disposed corrugations may be used than heretofore, without any sacrifice of strength, to thus reduce the required amount of material and also to minimize danger of fracture of the metal arising from tensile stresses set up during the drawing operation.

Another object of our invention is to provide, in a sheet metal door having opposed reinforced edges that are secured to a wallsupporting structure when in closed position, integral reinforcements between the reinforced edges, which reinforcements are of progressively increased cross section toward the center of the door. Y

Other objects of the invention will more clearly appear from the description and claims hereinafter following.

having a door opening provided therein, de-

fined in part by a front Z-bar door post 11 and a rear Z-bar door post 12. Wood fillers "13-13 are seated within the recesses provided by the webs and flanges of the Z-bar post, as clearly indicated in Fig. 3. A common form of front door stop and weather sealing member is indicated'at 14, the same comprising an angle having its outer flange 15 spaced a suitable distance from the outermost flange 16 of the post 11, thus providing a recess or groove for the reception of the vertical front edge of the door which is indicated generally by the reference character A and described in detail hereinafter; V

A well known form of weather sealing arrangement for the rear edge of the door is also indicated, the same comprising an angle 17 secured to the rear door post 12, said'angle 17 having its outer flange 18 extending rear wardly and behind which is adapted to be positioned an inwardly and forwardly extended flange 19 of a weather sealing strip 20 applied to the rear edge of the door A. In the embodiment chosen for illustration, the door is shown of the top hung type for which purpose two roller-carrying brackets 2121 are riveted thereto in the upper corners, said brackets carrying rollers 2222 adapted to ride on a suitable track, not shown. a

As will be apparent from the general arrangement of door and car wall structure so far described, both the front and rear ver-' tical edges of the door are effectively interlocked throughout their entire length with fixed members of the car wall, when the door is in closed position, so that all loads arising from forces applied to the main central areas of the door in a direction transverse to the plane thereof, whether inwardly or" outwardly with respect to the car, are ultimately transmitted to the vertical edges of the door and through the latter to the cooperating fixed parts of the car wall. It will be evident, therefore, that there is normally very little tendency for the door to buckle or become distorted from forces applied transverse to the'plane of the door at points adjacent the vertical edges of the door, i. e., in the region immediately adjacent the posts.

- However, as the point of application of such which must be effectively resisted if the door is to perform satisfactory service,

In the specific door chosen for illustration,

three panels 23', 24 and 25 are preferably employed, the same being of generally rectangular outline and having their adjacent horizontal edges overlapped and riveted asindioated at 26. Incorporated in the panels comprising the main door are two vertical front and rear edge corrugations 2727 and outwardly of the latter the metal sheets termii nate in a flat marginal portion indicated at 2828. To strengthen the corrugations 27 and prevent collapse thereof in a direction parallel to the plane of the door, bridging strips 29 and 30 are employed, the same being riveted or spot welded to the main sheets at points along each side of the base of the corresponding corrugation 27 so as to form, in effect, a tubular edge of very light but rigid construction. Additional reinforcement may be employed if desired, in the form of strips 31 -31 inlaid within the corrugations and riveted to the main sheets.

In the case of the bridging strip 29atthe front edge of the door, the same is preferably extended around the marginal edge 28 and doubled back, as indicated at 32 so as to provide a three-ply flat marginal edge at the front of the door. In the case of the bridging strip 30, the same is not doubled around since the triple-ply effect is obtained by the riveting of the outer flange 83 of the weather sealing member 20, as clearly shown in Fig. 3.

Top and bottom horizontally disposed corrugations 34 and 35 are also preferably incorporated in the door, said corrugations,

preferably terminating at points within the vertical edge corrugations so 'as'to leave suit able flat spaces for the application of the roller brackets 21 for either top or bottom hung doors. The corrugations 34 and 35 are also preferably reinforced by bridgingstrips 87 applied thereover, similar to the strips29 and 30.

. To brace or reinforce the door, particularly against forces applied transverse to the plane thereof, we employ a series of horizontally disposed corrugations 3838, of special construction. Each of said. corrugations 38 has a central or intermediate section extending behas outwardly inclined and converging sides 41-41 and a fiat crest 42.

From each point 39 to the corresponding adjacent vertical edge corrugation 27, the horizontal corrugation 38 is uniformly tapered or of uniformly decreasing cross sec- Q L With horizontally disposed corrugations or embossments of the character described. it is evident, first, that the maximum strength is obtained at the central portions thereof Where the greatest resistance is required against bending moments. Second, the cross sectional area or effectiveness of the horizon-- tal corrugations 38 gradually decreases as approach is made to the vertical edges of the doors and proportionally to the decreasing bending moments, with respect to the secured vertical edges. Third, by increasing the effectiveness of the corrugations at the central portions where the greatest strength is required, we are enabled to reduce the number of the corrugations 38 to produce a door of given strength, the number required per panel in our door being from two to four less than is now required in doors of the general type indicated. The reduced number of sucn corrugations manifestly reduces the amount of material required in the blanks. And, finally, because of the reduced number of horizontal corrugations merging with the vertical corrugations, the tensile stresses set up in the sheets during the drawing opera-- tions are kept down to a minimum and within safe limits. Another feature of importance from a manufacturing standpoint is the use of a central or intermediate portion of uniform cross section in the horizontal corrugations. The dies may be made up for the vertical edge corrugations and the tapering portions of the horizontal corrugations and any variations in the width of the door required to meet various car conditions, are readily compensated for in the dies by introducing straight die sections for the intermediate portions, of varying lengths, to make up the required width of the door. All of these factors above mentioned combine to produce a door of lesser weight and cheaper to manufacture without sacrifice of strength, as compared with others of similar character heretofore in use.

Referring next to the modification illustrated in Fig. 4, the general arrangement of door is thesame as that first described, the only difference residing in the horizontal corrugations 138 which are here shown as comprising a central or intermediate section 140 of uniform cross section between the points 139139; shorter, tapering or gradually de-' creasing cross sectional area portions 144 144, and end portions 14313 of uniform and minimum cross section, the end porj'tions 143 merging, withthe vertical edge corrugations127127. V

Inthe modification of Fig.5, the door construction is the same as that first-described,

except for the horizontally disposed'corru- ,gations. In this modification, thecentral por .tions 240 are of maximum-cross section, as

heretofore, and atthe ends thereof are portions of gradually decreasing cross section,

.asindicated at 2442t4, the minimum cross sections beingreached at the points'indicated at2t3-243, these points being located a short gations 227-227.

From each point 24:3 to the corresponding distance inwardly of thevertical edge corruadjacent vertical corrugation 227, the horizontal corrugations are gradually enlarged in cross section, as indicated at 245and the wider ends ofthese portions are merged with thefvertical corrugations, as clearly shown. As willbe-obvious, the structures shown in Figs. and 5 possess thesame general advantages as those particularly pointed out inconnection with the modification shown in Fig. 1.

Although we have herein shown and de:-

scribed the preferred. manner of carrying out our invention, the sameis by way of illustration only, as we areaware thatfmany changes and modifications may be made, particularly in the shape and contour of the reinforcing corrugations between the vertical edges, without departing from the spirit of the invention and all changes and modifications are contemplated that come within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

We claim: q

1. Asan article of manufacture, a horizontally slidable car door, said door including sheet metal having incorporated therein a pairof vertically extending, outwardly disposed corrugations adjacent the front and rear vertical edges of the door and also a series of transversely extending, outwardly disposed corrugations, each of said transversely extending corrugations being of uniform depth throughout and having an intermediate portion of uniform cross section and end portions each of appreciable length tapering in Width from said intermediate portion to the corresponding vertical corrugation with which it merges, whereby the tensile stresses at the junctions of the transverse and vertical corrugations are maintained within practical manufacturing limits and, for a horizontally and vertically corrugated door of desired strength and gauge of sheet metal, the required number of transverse corrugations and amount of material are reduced as compared with a similar door wherein the horizontal corrugations are of uniform cross section from end to end.

2. As an article of manufacture, a horizontally slidable car door, said door including sheet metal having incorporated thereina pair of vertically extending, outwardly dis- I posed corrugations adjacent the front and rear vertical edges of the door and also a series -of transversely extending, outwardly disposedcorrugations, each of said transversely extending length, being of at least as great a depth as said edge corrugations, each horizontal corcorrugations, throughout its rugation'having a central portion of substantially uniform cross section'and end portions of appreciable length at each side ofthe central portion, each said end portion tapering in width from the adjacent central portion and, at its extremity, each end portion merging with the corresponding vertical edge corrugation whereby the tensile stresses at the "junctions of the transverse and vertical corrugations are maintained within practical manufacturing limits and, for a horizontally and vertically corrugated door of desired strength and gauge of sheet metal, the required number of transverse corrugations and amount of material are reduced as compared with a similar door wherein the horizontal corrugations are of uniform cross section from end to end.

In Witness that we claim the foregoing, we

have hereunto subscribed our names this 17 day of May, A. D. 1928.

JOHN P. MCWILLIAMS. FRANK DITCHFIE LD. 

